Teq Plantation Labour in India The managements in both plantations do not provide transport or. any other facility for these school-going children. Con?equently, the number of children going to school in both the gardens is very low. Canteen and Recreational Facilities Of the two gardens, G5 does not have any canteen. G4 has a canifeen where only teais served, when available. The management has provided the canteen with electricity, fuel and contributes one kilogramme‘ tea every month. Hence though the canteen has electricity, it has little else to offer, G4 has a playground for its workers but nothing else has been provided to them. There is a clubhouse which had been built through contributions from the workers. The management of G5 has provided a tlubhouse with no other facilities. There is a playground where workers play football. The-management has been generous enough, however, to provide the football,: Darjeeling Three plantations were selected for study in Darjecling which we sha.11 call G6, G7 and G8. G6 is situated near Darjeeling town. The garden 18 very well kmown for its long tradition of producing good quality tea. In fact the tea produced here is marketed under its own name. It is also very popular in the tourist circuit because every guided tour of Darjeeling includes this plantation in its itinerary. Tourists are brought to the outskirts of the garden and they are photographed so that tl:ney can carry home memories of a tea garden growing the famous Darjeeling tea. However condition of the workers is far from pleasant. This garden has 110 ha under tea and a labour force of around 250. The plantation is owned by a private company based in Caleutta. The second plantation, G7 has 166 ha under tea and a workforce of 600. This plantation is owned by a large corporation which controls a number of industries besides tea plantations in West Bengal and Assam. The third plantation—G8—has an area of 260 ha under tea and a workforce of 850. It is owned by a Caleutta based company which owns three more plantations in the district. ' 62 Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal Housing The Plantation Labour Act recommends houses of brick and cement with roofs of asbestos or corrugated iron for all plantation workers. This uniformity is not found in the case of kuchcha houses. In the plains (Dooars and Terai), kuchcha houses have mud walls and roofs of thatch. In Darjeeling kuchcha houses have wooden walls and tiled roofs as the mud houses are not suitable here. The living conditions of workers in G6 presents a stark contrast to the external beauty of the garden. The houses are in dilapidated condition and badly maintained. The garden has 108 quarters and all of them are kuchcha. The walls are made of wood and the roofs are tiled. In most cases the tiles are missing or the wood has rotted. No attempt has been made by the management to repair the houses. When the condition of the roofs worsened, the management provided tarpaulin (canvas sheets) as cover. The plantation does not provide electric connections but workers take private connections if they can afford it. Water is supplied through pipes and is availabie for a few hours every day. The lines have cart roads which are in bad condition. These have tobe maintained by the workers themselves as the management refuses to maintain them. The housing conditions in G7 is better. The garden has 430 labour quarters of which 375 are pucca and 55 kuchcha, The repair of the quarters is done regularly. The kuchcha quarters are repaired once in five years. About half the pucca quarters have electric connections. Water is supplied through taps situated at various points in the labour lines and is available throughout the day. Most of the roads in the labour lines as well as in other parts of the garden are semi-puceca (bricle-lined) and motorable, G8 has 650 labour quarters of which 510 are pucea and 140 kuchcha. New workers are given kuchcha quarters which they themselves have to build. The management gives the worker Rs. 1860 to cover the expenses (namely, raw materials and labour). Repair of quarters is not don_e regularly. (The workers told us that no repair work had been undertaken during the past five years.) The management does not provide electricity to the labour lines but some of the workers have taken electric connections on their own, Water is supplied to the lines 63